Development Core Abstract -- The Development Core (DC) is the engine for growth, interdisciplinary integration, expansion of the boundaries of population sciences and a mechanism to increase impact and productivity of the scholars affiliated with the Duke Population Research Center (DPRC). In the past five years, the DC has made significant investments in early career scholars in a way that has supported their professional development. The DC has built bridges between traditional population scientists and scholars from allied fields for whom demography and the population sciences provide new frameworks for measurement, classification and data collection. It has invested in novel population science work helping scholars develop new computational approaches to data analytics. Activities implemented have included competitively allocated seed funds to test innovative ideas that will lead to larger research efforts in population dynamics research; targeted activities aimed at expanding DPRC?s core intellectual strengths; and a weekly seminar series to promote collaboration, exposure to new ideas, and dissemination of research findings. Over the next five years, DPRC aims to continue and expand its investment in early career scholars to support DPRC over the long run and to expand a successful array of activities by adding new initiatives promoted by proposed Primary Research Area (PRA) Chairs. This investment will infuse PRAs (Foundations of Lifelong Health and Interconnected Social Systems and Population Health) with energy, foster new collaborations, improve rigor and impact, and provide the connective tissue across campus and beyond for exciting, innovative research.